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Programming Game AI by Example provides a comprehensive and practical introduction to the "bread and butter" AI techniques used by the game development industry, leading the reader through the process of designing, programming, and implementing intelligent agents for action games using the C++ programming language.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Programming Game AI by Example stands out from the pack by providing industrial-strength solutions to difficult problems, like steering and goal-oriented behavior. Mat guides the reader toward building a foundation robust enough for real games. This book is a must-have for anyone new to the field, and has tips for the seasoned professional as well. I wish I had read it eight years ago!" ---Jeff Orkin, AI architect, Monolith Productions, No One Lives Forever 2 and F.E.A.R

"Each chapter of Mats book gently introduces the reader to a fundamental game AI technology before expanding the new idea into a fully formed solution replete with extensive code and clearly worded examples. The tone of the book is uncomplicated and accessible to the reader, allowing a novice programmer the opportunity to get to grips with the basics of game AI programming by implementing their own systems direct from theory or expanding upon code examples offered to gain understanding in a sandbox environment. Once individual technologies are fully understood, the book goes on to combine these ideas into several complete game environments allowing the reader to understand the relationships between the interacting systems of an overarching game architecture." ---Mike Ducker, AI programmer, Lionhead Studios, Fable

"Using easy-to-follow and well-described examples, this book shows you how to use most of the techniques professional AI programmers use. A great introduction for the beginner and an excellent reference for the more experienced!" ---Eric Martel, AI programmer, Ubisoft, Far Cry (XBox)

"Programming Game AI by Example is an excellent book for the game programming neophyte, the intermediate programmer, and even the expert - it doesnt hurt to go over familiar ground, does it? The book concisely covers all of the important areas, including basic maths and physics through to graph theory and scripting with Lua, to arm any programmer with the tools needed to create some very sophisticated agent behaviours. Unusually for books of the type, Programming Game AI by Example is solid in its software engineering too, with the example code demonstrating game uses of familiar design patterns. Id have no qualms about recommending Programming Game AI by Example to any programmer. Its an excellent read and an excellent springboard for ideas." ---Chris Keegan, Technical director, Climax Studios (Solent)

About the Author

Mat Buckland is a freelance programmer and writer. He became interested in AI when he coded Waddingtons Monopoly for the ZX Spectrum way back in the 80s, and over the years his passion for making computers "think" has never faded. He is the author of the book AI Techniques for Game Programming and the founder of ai-junkie.com, a popular web site that specializes in AI tutorials. He is also a member of the AI Interface Standards Committee and co-hosts the AI round table at the European Game Developers Conference.

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Matthew Buckland's book was the second book on Game AI I had read (The first being Behavioral Mathematics). After reading it, I would say that that it is a major complement to his other book "AI Techniques for Game Programming". So anybody who thinks this book may simply be a rehash of the AI Techniques book is mistaken. This book will teach you about the basics of Game Programming and the mechanics that go into creating a Game AI Engine. I would recommend it as a great place to start learning about concepts in Game AI. I would also highly recommend reading "3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development" before reading this book though. Even though it's a graphics book, it's treatment on the dot product and other linear algebra concepts really helped me grasp the concepts presented in Buckland's book.

First, to give context: I am about 5 months along learning C++ for the creation of games. I am ok with the basics of the language and starting to learn the more advanced things.

This book was perfect for me. It has a math primer in the first chapter, which is very nice. It then gets right into the meat for a number of AI topics. It is more advanced than the learning books I have been using, but the source code provided completes the picture.

In short, it is a fantastic jumping off point to get into exactly the topics described. There's plenty more to learn after this book, but there's months of study right here if you want to dive deep into each of the chapters here as well. And if you just want to grab the technique and go, you should be able to do just that as well.

In short, if you made it to the point you are reading reviews for this book, I recommend to go ahead and take the plunge. It's not only excellent but at this price I would say it is a great value for the what you are getting.

I received this book the other day and have been reading it non-stop. I must say that there is much more information in here then what I bargained for. The only bad thing that I would have to say about this book is that all examples are in C++ and assumes you have no engine.

Thankfully I have a limited background in C++ and am currently developing in C# so I was easily able to understand it. Probably my favorite feature of this book is the "Math and Physics Primer" in the beginning. It's been a while since I've taken any high level math classes so that was a nice refresher. This book also fails to dive into the more detailed mathematics behind AI behavior but it does explore the programming concepts.

Over all I would definitely recommend this book to anyone thinking of venturing into AI Programming, it delivers as promised and so much more!

This is rally great book. I agree with all positive review posted before, so I am not going to repeat them.

But there a few drawback.

1) There is not explain all peaces of the C++ code. It is clearly explained all about the AI, but many help objects ( i.e. transformation matrix for rotation) are not mentioned in the book and you find them only in the source code.

2) There are C++ source only for Visual Studio 06 and 08. I have big problems to recompile this projects in VS10 (at the end I managed it, but It takes me a lot of time). And of course, If you prefer Linux, you have a problem ...

Good news is, that I decided to rewrite all codes from C++ to Java. So, if you are interested, you can find them on[...]

This is a fantastically accessible book. I teach CS and have ready plenty of introductory books in the field, but this one is especially practical and engaging, without being light on content or explanations of algorithmic foundations.

I've only read the first 4 chapters, but this is a great book on artificial intelligence! I am a Graduate Student, and my thesis deals with using AI to control simulated fish in a simulated fish tank. The movement or steering behaviors covered in chapter 3 for "flocking" behavior will be incredibly useful to me. I am incredibly glad I bought this book! It is well written and easy to follow along. The code that goes along with this book is excellent. I was lucky to come across this book!

This book helped me realize and actually *understand* all those dense AI terms or concepts I couldn't understand from a collegiate level AI course. The author puts the concepts together chapter by chapter, culminating in an epic finale where he brings together all the concepts taught in the book in his example game "Raven". This is a must have for anyone seriously wanting to understand game AI or even AI in general. I loved the read, and this coming from a person that hates to read books. Do yourself a favor, put it in your cart and buy it!